From the Rabbi

Dear Friends-- 

 

On Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the new month, it is traditional to recite Psalm 104 in the morning service. It is a glorious psalm, its author clearly inspired by the beauty and grandeur of the natural world. Each time I read this Psalm, I wonder if it was written in the Springtime. It celebrates the sky, the mountains, valleys, streams, birds, animals, sea, and trees.

The scope of the psalm’s poetry is so vast, and the luxuriant picture the author paints seems to me to be an idyllic springtime in Eretz Yisrael. I imagine the Galilee, the Jezreel Valley, or the point at which the hills surrounding Jerusalem meet the coastal plain that stretches to the Mediterranean Sea.

In describing this breathtaking beauty, the Psalmist is overtaken by the presence of G-d in the landscape he describes. It is no wonder that this psalm has been associated with Tu B’Shvat as well. In Israel the rains are subsiding and the fruit trees are beginning to bloom!

We are a bit behind our Israeli brothers and sisters in witnessing the miraculous rebirth of nature after the winter months, but soon we too will feel the warming sun giving life to the earth. The cycle of nature pulsates with G-d’s presence and abundance.

On Monday January 28, the fifteenth day of the month of Sh’vat, the Jewish community celebrated the festival of trees. I hope everyone took the opportunity to taste new fruits and recognize the sweetness of G-d’s creation. As the Ba’al Shem Tov wrote: “When one takes a fruit or other food and makes a blessing over it with focused attention (kavanah) and says ‘Blessed are you, G-d’, that person arouses the Life Energy that created the fruit and resides in it. If you eat something from which you derive pleasure, you are enjoying the radiance of the Shechinah (G-d’s holy presence).”

May we all be blessed to experience the radiance of the Shechinah as we acknowledge G-d’s bounty in creation.

Tu B’sh’vat Sameach!
Adam J. Raskin

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Last Updated: 02/09/02